Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? The question has divided movie fans for years. Well, here’s another controversial holiday movie question: Is Batman Returns the best Christmas romantic comedy? The 1992 Tim Burton film about The Caped Crusader stars Michael Keaton, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Danny DeVito, and is set in a snowy Gotham City during the holiday.
The film is silly, weird, and gruesome, says Alex Abad-Santos, senior culture reporter for Vox, and makes for a great Christmas film.
“I don't think all Christmas movies have to be bright and happy — and there are moments of bright and happiness and gift-giving and family together time in this movie, which I would say is pretty much all Christmas movies because I think what we look for [in] Christmas movies, we look for being together,” he tells KCRW.
The movie also features the steamy connection between Batman (Keaton) and Catwoman (Pfeiffer) — who Abad-Santos argues starts off as the frazzled lead who evolves throughout the film, much like a traditional rom-com heroine.
“She's an assistant. She's not confident in herself, and she goes under this transformation into Catwoman where she becomes sexy. A rom-com movie’s biggest element is a makeover, and Catwoman gets one. Unfortunately, it comes via death and resurrection by feline magic, but at the heart of it, you got the rom-com element there.”
Meanwhile, Abad-Santos says the film is also reminiscent of A Christmas Carol — pointing to The Penguin’s character.
“You could see The Penguin as a metaphor … for family togetherness, because when The Penguin gets dumped, they do it as a family,” Abad-Santos says. “I feel like Christmas can bring people together, even if it is dumping your cat-eating baby into the sewers.”